


he had it coming

by ultravires



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Blood, Cell Block Tango, Character Death, Chicago (Musical) - Freeform, Guns, Knives, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence, i cant believe there isnt a tag for chicago the musical!, noren renmin are just mentioned sorry, this is literally a cell block tango au, unbeta'd we go down like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:42:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23363392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ultravires/pseuds/ultravires
Summary: And now, the six married murderers of the Seoul County Jail, in their rendition of the Cell Block Tango.
Relationships: Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Suh Youngho | Johnny, Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Moon Taeil, Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Nakamoto Yuta, Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung, Kim Jungwoo/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee, Lee Taeyong/Suh Youngho | Johnny, Wong Kun Hang | Hendery/Xiao De Jun | Xiao Jun
Comments: 25
Kudos: 124





	he had it coming

**Author's Note:**

> a whole cell block tango!au inspired by [this fic](http://19-blue-roses.livejournal.com/47714.html).

_i. pop_

Kunhang likes to chew gum. No, not chew. Pop.

His husband, Dejun, hates it. But he got nothing to do after work while waiting for Dejun to come home, so naturally he picks it up as a habit. An annoying one, but he doesn’t care. Most of the time, he passes time by drinking beer. Sometimes he would turn on the TV and let whatever’s playing on without really watching it, sometimes he just sits on the couch staring at the shotgun hanging next to his kitchen cupboard. He undoes his tie and props his feet on the coffee table while chewing. No, not chewing. Popping.

Today, Dejun comes home a little later than he usually does. His face is twisted into irritation as he enters the house and slams his bag onto the table. Dejun grabs a glass from the cupboard and fills it with water, drinking it to calm his nerves. He stares at Kunhang who is still popping gum on the couch, not even bothering to acknowledge his presence. 

“Can you please stop with the chewing? It’s distracting.” Dejun says while putting his empty glass in the sink. Only then did Kunhang finally turn to face him, turning down the TV volume. Chew, chew, pop. When Dejun doesn’t continue, he turns back to the TV and turns up the volume once again without answering.

Dejun peers into their trash. “Kunhang, didn’t I tell you to take out the trash after you come home? Did you forget again?”

Kunhang only gives a non-committal hum as an answer. Chew, chew, pop. Dejun opens their fridge and frowns when he sees a half empty six-pack that wasn’t there this morning. He exhales harshly through his nose, trying to reign in the anger. 

“Good God, Kunhang, did you drink again? You got time to stop by for a six-pack but can’t take out the trash?”

More chewing, more popping. Dejun’s veins are visible on his temple. 

“Goddamnit, Kunhang, stop popping the gum.”

Kunhang turns off the TV. He narrows his eyes while looking at Dejun, who is gripping the edge of the table so hard his knuckles turn white. Kunhang stares straight into Dejun’s eyes, and pops his gum so loud that his neighbours think the following sounds of two gunshot was just him popping his gum like he usually did.

_ii. six_

Lucas still got fifteen minutes left before he usually arrives at home, so he pulled up two streets before his house to examine the blooming hickeys on his neck. His collars are buttoned up high enough that it’s somewhat hidden from view, but Lucas fears Jungwoo's sharp eyes and decided he can’t take that chance. He fishes through the glove compartment and pulls out the tube of concealer he keeps there exactly for this purpose and angled the rearview mirror so he can apply it to hide the hickies. He doesn’t generally let his lovers in the city mark him up whenever they’re together, but today he got carried away and forgot to reprimand them when they’re doing it. 

Jungwoo’s eyes light up when Lucas enters through the front door. Jungwoo gives him a kiss and smile that Lucas returns, silently wishing that Jungwoo can’t taste someone else on his lips. If he does, he doesn’t show it, instead he gets up and offers to fix Lucas a drink.

“The usual Mai Tai?” Jungwoo asks as he heads towards the kitchen. “Sure,” Lucas calls out from the couch as he toes off his shoes and loosens his tie. Jungwoo didn’t notice. He releases a breath he didn’t realize he was holding.

One day he will leave his lovers. He has to do it, he must do it for Jungwoo’s sake. Lucas feels very guilty for continuing with all of this but he just can’t seem to stop. 

Ten minutes later, Jungwoo returns to the living room and hands him a cold glass of his usual drink. Lucas shoots him a thankful smile. “Oh, wow, the almond is strong today,” he comments offhandedly before he takes a sip.

He misses the way Jungwoo’s eyes widen just a bit but when he turns to look at Jungwoo as he answers, “I must’ve overdone the almond syrup, sorry,” he can see the glimmer in his eyes, and Lucas feels something churn in him suddenly.

_iii. squish_

Jaehyun doesn’t like cutting up his own meat, so Doyoung is in the kitchen cutting up the meat they're going to have for dinner for him when he storms into the kitchen yelling bloody murder, surprising Doyoung and made him accidentally nick his finger.

“You’ve been screwing Lee Taeyong!” He shouts.

“What?” Doyoung asks, bewildered.

“You’ve been screwing Lee Taeyong!”

“What the fuck, Jaehyun?” Doyoung says, wiping the blood running down his hand on his shirt, staining it red, “I’m not screwing anyone!”

Doyoung picks up his knife again, dismissing Jaehyun as he readies to continue cutting up the meat. Jaehyun became even more enraged with Doyoung’s lack of response, so he shoved Doyoung to the wall so hard that a nasty crack was heard.

It’s just that Doyoung is the same height as Jaehyun, and kind of also has anger management issues and hates-- _hates--_ being manhandled. And Jaehyun realizes too late that on top of all of that, Doyoung is also still holding a knife.

_iv. uh, uh_

“ _I didn’t do it!”_ Sicheng frantically screams in Mandarin as he gets cuffed by the police officer. Sirens are blaring outside, illuminating the room red and blue, as blood seeps through the bathroom door onto the wooden floor of the apartment hallway.

Sicheng thrashes in the officer’s hold, tears streaming down his cheeks as he keeps chanting “ _I didn’t kill him”_ in Mandarin. No one understands him, and he still gets dragged outside to freeze in the officer’s car. Sicheng has only been in Korea for a few weeks after being wedded to Taeil but Taeil is terrible to him and grips too hard and shouts to him in Korean he still doesn’t understand. Then Sicheng meets Yuta from next door who helps him carry groceries upstairs once, and is surprisingly very nice and teaches him Korean. Except the teaching happens in the bedroom where Yuta fucks him if he can get the Korean phrases right.

Tonight, though, tonight Taeil drank one glass too much and started hitting Sicheng through his drunken haze until Sicheng was crying and shouting for help. Apparently Yuta had heard it and he busts through Sicheng’s apartment carrying a motherfucking gun and shoots at Taeil without a second thought when he sees Sicheng slumped and bruised on the floor. 

Their other neighbours must have heard the gunshot on top of the shouting and ear-splitting noise of door-busting, then called the police on them, because the sirens came not 5 minutes later when Yuta moved the body to the bathroom.

Except that he left Taeil’s body in the bathroom and took off straight before the police came crowding into Sicheng’s apartment and found Sicheng sitting on the couch, holding the gun.

“ _I’m not guilty,”_ Sicheng tells the police as he drives off. The police said nothing.

_v. cicero_

Ten and Taeyong are brothers. Okay, not really. But they met as children in the orphanage and became very close, protecting each other whenever things got too rough. They grew up surviving each year in the musty orphanage and ran away when they were fifteen, finding a job in the first vaudeville club they found. The two turned out to be extremely talented dancers, and the club owner suggested they have a segment of their own. 

It was successful. So successful that Ten caught Johnny’s eyes, a banker from downtown who was so smitten with him that he asked Ten to marry him. It was also Johnny who suggested that the two perform on their own act: The Ten and Taeyong Show. They travel, city to city, performing all kinds of acrobatic acts. Johnny took care of tickets and sales and the two just focused on performing.

“Taeyong, did you see the gentleman in the bowtie?” Ten slurs, rolling over on the hotel bed where they spent their last night in the city as he faces Taeyong who is sitting on the floor, downing his booze. Taeyong giggles before answering, “What gentleman?”

“Oh, yeah, he can’t take his eyes off you, I’m sure he was just ready to jump you on that stage,” Johnny chimes in from his spot next to Ten on the bed. Taeyong just giggles some more as he pours himself another glass of whiskey. He frowns when he realizes the ice ran out.

“The ice is out,” he said to no one in particular, pouting. 

“I’ll get some!” Ten said as he gets up from the bed, volunteering to get some ice from the hotel bar. The door closed behind him with a click.

He didn’t think that Taeyong would be practicing acrobatic trick number 17, the spread eagle, so late at night. With Johnny, no less.

Too bad the door was unlocked.

_vi. lipschitz_

Donghyuck knows that when Mark is out every night, it’s to find himself. It’s hard for him to be an aspiring lyricist and rapper, so he lets Mark wander the city to look for inspiration, more than what he could offer in their 4 x 4 apartment. He loves Mark, more than he can possibly say, a real artistic guy. 

It’s not until a few months later that he found out when Mark is out finding himself, he also found Mina and Daniel and some other guys Donghyuck can’t be bothered to remember.

So when they break up, he can say it’s from artistic differences. Mark saw himself as alive and Donghyuck, well, not so much.

* * *

Renjun is a bit afraid. Not really, he tries to tell himself, he can live with these petty criminals. They're just murderers at best. It’s okay, he whispers, I can do this.

Who is he kidding, though? He’s scared shitless of these murderers. He has to be in the same place as people who killed their spouses! I’m not a criminal, he chants in his head, I’m not wrong.

Except that he kind of is, because he also did accidentally kill Jaemin the mailman who he was having an affair with and tried to frame his husband Jeno for doing it.

Details, details.

Anyway. He listens to one of the men who are telling stories about how’d they end up in the county jail, and figured that if he’s really going to be here, he might as well find out what kind of people he’s living with.

The one that is talking right now looks a little young, maybe only slightly older than Renjun himself. “You know how people have these little habits that get you down? Like, Kunhang.” He rolls his eyes and snorts. “Kunhang liked to chew gum. No, not chew. Pop.” He said it so languidly that he’s dragging the word out.

He continues. “So, I came home this one day and I’m really irritated, and I’m looking for a little bit of sympathy. And there’s Kunhang, lying on the couch, drinking a beer and chewing. No, not chewing. Popping.” He was almost shouting, the way he said it, Renjun jumped off his seat from the surprise. 

“So I said to him, I said, ‘Kunhang, you pop that gum one more time--’” He looks around and sighs-- “And he did. So I took the shotgun off the wall, and I fired two warning shots.” He paused for the dramatics, grinning while doing so. “Into his head.” 

Quiet cheers erupts around them as someone on his right gives him a high five. Renjun turns pale, but he’s glued to his seat. The commotion dies down.

“Okay, okay,” a second man, looking just as soft as the first one, said, “wanna hear mine?” A chorus of yes’s. “I met Huang Lucas from Hong Kong about two years ago, and he told me he was single and we hit it off right away.” A giggle escapes him. “So we started living together, he’d go to work, he’d come home, I’d fix him a drink and we’d have dinner. And then I found out,” He paused, looking around, “single, my ass.” He shouts. “Not only was he taken, oh no-- he had six lovers.” 

There’s a collective gasp around them. “So that night when he came home from work, I fixed him his drink as usual. You know some guys just can’t hold their arsenic.” His eyes are glinting under the dim lighting of the jail cell and Renjun can see the small upturn of his lips.

“Nice, Jungwoo,” the man from earlier commented, “I like your style.”

“Thanks, Dejun, I do try,” he answered breezily.

A third voice comes up. “Mmm, I’ve got a messy one right here.” The crowd turns to the man, looks a bit like a bunny, but Renjun knows that one must be a dangerous bunny. 

“Now, I'm standing in the kitchen, cutting up meat we’re having for dinner, minding my own business. In storms my husband Jaehyun in a jealous rage.” Yes, Renjun can totally see why this one’s scary. “‘You’ve been screwing Lee Taeyong!’ he shouts, over and over again.” A snort so loud interrupted the story and the man turned to look at the source. A petite guy is sitting next to him, eyes like a cat. The man ignores him and continues. “Then he ran into my knife. He ran into my knife ten times.”

“Ooh, gory, I love it!” Jungwoo exclaims.

Out of nowhere, Renjun heard a string of shaky Mandarin. “ _What am I doing here? They say I killed my husband with a gun because he found me in an affair with my lover. But it's not true. I am innocent. I don't know why the neighbour says I did it. I tried to explain at the police station but they didn't understand me_.”

Renjun really couldn’t help himself. “Yeah, but did you do it?” He asks the man, putting himself in the center of attention. The Chinese shakes his head while he wipes his tears. “Uh, uh,” he answers, shaking his head, “Not guilty.” He tries to say in broken Korean.

Dejun gives the Chinese a side hug. “It’s okay, Sicheng,” he says while rubbing his back.

Then the petite one comes forward. “Mine’s a classic story of husband and brother,” he said nonchalantly. The others immediately crowd over him.

“My brother Taeyong and I,” he gave a nod to the angry-looking bunny who doubled over in laughter (Renjun thinks that this Taeyong might be the one the man was accused of sleeping with), “had this double act, and my husband Johnny travelled around with us. Now, for the last number in our act we performed twenty acrobatic tricks in a row. One, two, three, four, five, splits, spread eagles, backflips, flip flops, one right after the other.” A whistle was heard. The petite man bowed mockingly in his seat.

“So this one night after the show, we were down in the Hotel Cicero, y’all ever heard of it? The three of us boozin’, having a few laughs and we ran out of ice, so I went out to get more. I come back, open the door, and there's Taeyong and Johnny, doing number seventeen,” he sniffs, “the spread eagle.”

“Good God, Ten,” the angry bunny commented cryptically. So Ten is the petite.

“Sorry you didn’t get to experience number seventeen from Taeyong yourself, Doyoung,” Ten said. Doyoung the angry bunny snorted again.

Ten continued. “Well, I was in such a state of shock, I completely blacked out. I can't remember a thing, it wasn't until later when I was washing the blood off my hands I even knew they were dead.”

“It really do be like that sometimes,” a voice, kind of high-pitched, sounds as young Renjun is, solemnly commented. He opens his eyes and moves forward in his seat next to Renjun.

“My story’s last then,” he said. Ten clapped excitedly. “My favorite! Donghyuck’s story. Come on, let’s hear it.”

“I loved Mark Lee more than I could possibly say,” Donghyuck starts low. “He was a real artistic guy--sensitive, a musician. But he was always trying to find himself. He'd go out every night, looking for himself. And on the way, he found Mina, Daniel, and Lucas.” Jungwoo jumped out of his seat, clapping like a seal and laughing hysterically. “I guess you can say we broke up because of artistic differences,” Donghyuck says, shrugging. “He saw himself as alive. And I saw him dead.”

Renjun swallows harshly. 

“They had it coming,” Dejun says, arms still around a crying Sicheng. 

“They had it coming all along,” Doyoung said, agreeing.

“Cause if they used us and they abused us, how could they tell us that we were wrong?” Ten piped up.

Donghyuck turns to look Renjun straight in the eyes. “If you’d have been there, if you’d have seen it…” he trails off.

“I bet that you would have done the same.” Jungwoo said softly.

Renjun looks up to the six pairs of eyes before him. “I did.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for making it this far! lmk how you feel about this piece! i started writing this at 12 in the evening and now it's 2 AM when i have pressing legal memos to write.
> 
> all kudos and comments are much appreciated!


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